


Mindsweep

by ibonekoen



Category: Gilmore Girls, Heroes (TV)
Genre: Gen, Prince and the Pauper scenario
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-28
Updated: 2016-11-28
Packaged: 2018-09-02 21:45:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,851
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8684527
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ibonekoen/pseuds/ibonekoen
Summary: Jess Mariano is really Peter Petrelli. He just doesn't know it yet.





	

**Author's Note:**

> This was written based on a prompt for a now defunct community on Livejournal. There are mild spoilers for Gilmore Girls Season 2, Episode 5, Nick & Nora, Sid & Nancy and Pre-Season 1 for Heroes

Jess Mariano is really Peter Petrelli, he just doesn’t know it yet. If Angela Petrelli has her way, he won’t ever know. She’s worked too hard and pulled too many strings protecting him to have it all undone in one fell swoop.

Peter’s life begins normally enough. He’s born on December 23, 1979, right as the sun is rising, bringing the dawning of a new day. It gives his parents a brighter outlook on their lives and the fact that Peter was an accident, not meant to be; in this case, he turned out to be a happy accident. He brings his parents much joy and even his older brother, Nathan, adores him from the start. Nearly everyone that Peter comes in contact after that initial moment of drawing his first breath is instantly and unabashedly won over by his crooked, lovable smile.

There are exceptions to this, of course, Daniel Linderman being one of them. He senses in young Peter the potential to be everything that the Company has hoped for and dreamed about; to Daniel, Peter is the future of the Company. The boy shows no hint of power for the first few years of his life, but Daniel is patient. He observes the boy from the shadows, watching and waiting until the moment comes when Peter’s destiny is revealed.

Peter is 21 before Daniel begins to get an inkling of what the boy’s power might be. It’s been right there in front of his face for the longest time and he almost can’t believe it’s taken him this long to figure it out. The boy has always been friendly, possessing the ability to make strangers feel more at ease and seeming to form instant friendships. Daniel never really connects it with anything more than the boy simply being friendly, though he certainly doesn’t know where he gets it from, certainly not his parents. The answer finally comes to him one day as he’s observing Peter and his brother Nathan. He’s visiting their father regarding one business deal or another and he happens to overhear a portion of their conversation as they walk past Arthur’s study. The only thing Daniel really catches is Peter’s insistent, “Nathan, I know how she felt. She didn’t have to say it and she definitely didn’t look like she was sad, but I could feel it and I got sad too because she was...” 

He doesn’t catch the rest of the statement because Peter and Nathan have already continued down the hall out of the earshot of the study’s inhabitants. Daniel quirks an eyebrow and turns his attention back to Arthur, asks him if Peter has exhibited any signs of empathy. Arthur stares at him for a moment and shakes his head, and then steers his attention back to the matters at hand.

It will be two more years before Daniel gets a phone call from Arthur, telling him that his younger son has claimed that he can fly. “Is there any truth to the boy’s claims?” Daniel asks with excitement in his voice.

“None that I know of yet.” Arthur tells him, a clear sense of disbelief in his voice. “He was telling Nathan this morning that his foot hovered. It sounds utterly ridiculous, if you ask me. Foot hovering? That’s no indication of flight.”

“Ah, but it could be.” Daniel says, stroking his chin thoughtfully. “And honestly, Arthur, in your family and knowing all that you do about what you and I can do and all the others we’ve encountered, do you really think it’s that ridiculous?”

Arthur hesitates a moment, fiddles with something on his desk. “No, I suppose not.” he says finally with a deep sigh. “What shall we do now?”

“I think it’s a good idea to send the boy to me, for testing.” Daniel says. “You should do this as soon as possible.”

Angela hears all of this, of course, because she’s listening on an extension somewhere else in the house. Her heart clenches at Daniel’s words. She knows exactly what sort of ‘testing’ he intends to put her son through and she’ll be damned if she’s letting her baby boy turn out like that child, Elle. Granted, Elle was placed under the Company’s care when she was a lot younger than Peter is now and it’s entirely possible that Peter will stand up to the testing better. Angela refuses to take the chance though.

There’s much to be done, lots to plan and she starts the process by very quietly hanging up the phone and moving away to her bedroom, where a private line has been installed. She makes a quick call to an associate, imploring him to meet her at a quiet outdoor café where they can discuss important matters.

Within a half hour, she’s seated at a table tucked away on the second floor terrace of the little French café, her dark sunglasses shielding her eyes from the garish afternoon sun.

She waits for her associate to show, smiles as she sees the young Haitian man walking toward her. “Good afternoon, my young friend.” she says in French. He can speak and understand English but she likes to converse with him in French. It’s so rare that she gets the opportunity to speak the language otherwise.

Her associate is mostly quiet, speaking very little. In fact, Linderman and the others in the Company think that he is mute. No one knows the truth except Angela and she’d like to keep it that way.

“I have a task for you, one of the upmost importance.” she says as she casually picks up her tea cup and takes a sip.

He watches her with silent, attentive eyes, waiting for her to speak again. She finally sets the cup down and looks at him. “I need your help to hide someone.” she says. “I need you to erase my son Peter’s memories.”

The Haitian looks at her for a few long moments and then quietly says, “You know that I cannot return them to him.”

Angela nods once, her mouth set in a grim line. “Yes, I realize that all too well. However, I’m more concerned with protecting him from the hands of the Company. I refuse to let him become their newest lab rat. He is my baby and I will not see him turned into another Elle.”

The Haitian nods. “I will do whatever you ask of me, Mrs. Petrelli.”

“Thank you” she says. “There is much to be done. We’re going to give Peter a new identity. I’ve already got a town selected, an identity in place.”

“Perhaps there is another way to achieve that other than my erasing his memories.” the Haitian said after a few moments. “There is a young man within the Company who has the power of persuasion. He could order Peter to lock those memories away in his mind, to think of himself as this new identity and Peter would be forced to obey.”

Angela looks thoughtful for a moment and then nods. “Yes, that could work. Alright, we’ll try that then. Come, we have much work to do.”

She finishes her tea and then motions for the waiter, gives him plenty of cash to cover her bill and give him a generous tip. Then she stands up and motions for the Haitian to follow her.

******

 

A few hours later, Peter is nervously sitting on the couch in the sitting room of the Petrelli mansion. His mother has asked him to come and he’s a little hesitant, afraid that he’ll run into his father and end up getting another lecture on not following in his and Nathan’s footsteps and going to college for law.

He raises his wrist, glancing down at his watch, and bites his lip, sighing. He’s been waiting for twenty minutes and it’s not like his mother to be late when she makes an appointment with a person. He idly wonders if maybe something’s happened to her, but he’s fairly certain that someone would’ve called the house by now.

He’s just getting ready to call his mother’s cell phone when she walks into the room, followed by a tall, dark-haired Latino man and a younger, shorter guy who can’t be older than sixteen, maybe seventeen. Peter’s attention is caught by the shorter guy; he does a double take as the kid looks up and Peter finds himself staring into his own face.

“Uh....” is all that he can think to say and he shoots a flabbergasted look at his mother.

Angela nods a little and motions to the teenager. “Jess, I want you to meet my son, Peter. Peter, this is Jess Mariano.” she says in a calm voice.

“Hey.” Jess says quietly with a brief downward nod of his head. He shoves his hands into his pockets and looks at Peter with a slight scowl on his face.

Peter just stares at the kid, completely stunned and speechless.

Angela motions the dark-haired man forward. “Javier, you know what you have to do.” she says.

This snaps Peter out of his trance and he frowns, giving his mother a confused look as he gets this funny feeling in the pit of his stomach. “Mom, what’s going on?” he asks. “Why’d you ask me here? What’s this...” He trails off and shoots a cautious look at Jess before licking his lips and glancing back at his mom, leaning in a little to whisper, “guy doing here?”

Angela smiles softly and raises her hand to gently pat his cheek. “My dear, sweet boy.” she says quietly. “You’ll understand soon.” She gives him another smile, knowing that momentarily he won’t even remember this conversation or that she’s his mother. She somehow manages to conceal the pain that thought causes and she brushes her lips against his left eyebrow in a gentle forehead kiss.

This confuses Peter more and his frown deepens as he watches his mother walk out of the room. His attention is caught by Javier stepping closer and Peter gives the man an uneasy look. The man certainly looks friendly enough but there’s just something off about the way that he smiles, and it makes the hairs on the back of Peter’s neck stand on end in apprehension.

When Javier speaks, there is an odd, deep and commanding, somewhat malicious quality to his voice that wasn’t there previously. Peter can’t quite explain it but he suddenly seems very interested in what Javier is saying and he feels this strange, compelling urge to do whatever the man tells him. It makes no sense to him why he should be doing these things -- forgetting everything he’s ever known about his family or who he is, committing to memory everything Jess Mariano says to him about his life, believing that he is Jess Mariano -- but his face goes blank and his mind becomes a porous sponge, soaking up every answer Jess gives to questions prompted by Javier. 

As Peter listens to Jess speak, memories of picnics and learning how to ride a bike and being given piggyback rides on the back of his brother Nathan and attending private school are being replaced with fights started because kids picked on him for not having a father that was around, baseball games and school plays missed because his mother was working late to put food on the table, growing up in a two-bedroom rundown apartment and listening to his mother cry herself to sleep because his father walked out.

When Javier is certain the task is complete, Javier quietly tells the young man on the couch to go to sleep. He motions for the other young man to follow him into the kitchen, where Angela is waiting, ready to assist in the next phase of the plan.

******

 

Arthur steps out of the car and adjusts his tie, then glances back at the other occupant of the car. “Let’s go, Peter.” he says sharply, a slightly irritated look flashing across his face. “These are very important people and we don’t want to keep them waiting.”

The lanky twenty-three year old who could easily pass for a teenager gets out of the car, just barely suppressing the urge to roll his eyes at his impatient father. “Yes, Dad, coming.” he says quietly. The only thing that stops him from rolling his eyes is the fact that he’s slightly afraid of Arthur. He has no idea what this place is that his father has brought him to or who these important people are that he’s meeting, but all the secrecy is making him more than a little nervous.

He follows his father into the building and blinks in surprise as he glances around at the inside, which resembles a hospital. “Uh, Dad? What are we doing here?” he asks.

“It’ll all make sense in a few minutes, Peter.” Arthur answers, leading his youngest son into an office, where a bald man wearing black-rimmed glasses sits behind the desk. The man gives Peter a falsely charming grin that sends shivers down his spine.

“Peter Petrelli, welcome.” the man says. “My name is Bob Bishop.” He stands up and offers Peter his hand, which he reluctantly gives a firm shake. “I’ve heard so much about you. Peter, your father told us about you thinking that you could fly. We’d like to run some tests on you.”

Peter stiffens a little and shoots a suspicious look at Bob. “What kinds of tests?” he asks cautiously.

“Just some minor tests to determine if what you’re saying is true.” Bob says, flashing that smile again. “We believe you one hundred percent, Peter, we just want to verify it.”

“Don’t worry, kiddo, it won’t hurt a bit.” Arthur says, giving Peter a reassuring smile that doesn’t quite meet his eyes.

Ten hours and multiple inconclusive tests later, Bob is shaking his head and shooting Arthur a disgusted look. “I thought you said you were certain he had a power.” he mutters to Arthur under his breath as he watches one more test being run on Peter. This one comes back negative as well and Arthur frowns, shaking his head.

“I thought I was!” he says incredulously. “I guess I was wrong. I never actually witnessed him exhibiting the power. I merely overheard him talking to his brother about it.”

Bob shakes his head and motions for the Haitian to enter the room. “You know what to do.” he says, motioning toward Peter.

The Haitian silently nods and then goes over to Peter, placing his hand over the young man’s eyes. 

Thirty minutes later, Peter is sitting in the front seat of his father’s car with no memory of how he got there, but it’s dark outside and he reeks of alcohol, so he believes his father when the older man tells him that he’s just been bailed out of jail for drunken and disorderly conduct in public.

******

 

Jess Mariano startles awake as he feels himself come to a stop. He blinks in confusion, wondering how he came to be in motion in the first place, and then realizes that he’s sitting on a bus. This, of course, brings to mind the question of how and why he’s on a bus, but he hears the driver announce that they’re stopped in Star’s Hollow and the hokey name triggers something in his memory. Oh right, his nutcase of a mother decided that she couldn’t handle her teenaged son anymore and sent him to live with his uncle -- whom he’s only seen a handful of times -- in this backwater town in Connecticut.

Muttering to himself, the teenager stands up and grabs his duffel bag from where it sat beside him in the seat. He slings it onto his back and heads off the bus, stopping on the edge of the curb. He doesn’t notice anything out of the ordinary as his uncle greets him. He doesn’t spot the non-descript black car sitting beside the curb across the street. He wouldn’t even recognize the somber, dark-haired woman in the back seat, her eyes fixed upon his form.

“You’re sure he suspects nothing?” Angela Petrelli asks, a touch of worry to her otherwise steel voice. Her face is an expressionless mask as she keeps her eyes trained on the teenager. “I trust that Mr. Danes knows to give him the pills to suppress his power?”

The Haitian beside her nods and leans forward slightly to watch the two engaged in conversation. “He remembers nothing of the Petrellis or his true identity. He is Jess Mariano to the core. Mr. Danes has been given the pills by the family doctor and was told they were for his allergies.”

Angela nods a little and continues to watch her son as he walks away with his “uncle,” beginning what is -- completely unbeknownst to him -- a new life, one where he will be safe. A soft smile plays across her lip and she motions for her driver to pull away, content in the knowledge that her son is free.

Jess Mariano is really Peter Petrelli, he just doesn’t know it. Yet.


End file.
